Abstract

Responsibility is an important norm in all contexts of policy-making. In a growing number of policy contexts it must be understood as a cosmopolitan principle reaching out to affected parties independent of their nationality, and giving them voice in own decision-making processes. The principle entails the obligation to re-draw the boundaries of the demos and to reconceptualize the notion of political community. It is already institutionalized in a number of international, supranational and transnational contexts. Comparing these contexts provides important insides into the political options and limitations of putting it into practice. The comparison also highlights that cosmopolitan responsibility is an intrinsically contested principle which will find it difficult to become globally accepted as a legally binding norm.